Monrads Gate

Update from Africa

stasch — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:44:55 +0000

Hej!

In Tanzania, you don’t have wi fi everywhere and therefore it’s been hard to get online for this. However, everything has gone really well, travelling wise, but I’ve been a little bit sick the last two days. But I’m getting better already, so don’t worry bout me!

Anyways, We just got back from a four day safari in the national parks Serengetti and Ngorongoro, and really, it’s been truly amazing.

To give a short summary: We saw ”the big five”, which includes elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rino (noshorning). We also got to see some other favorites such as giraffes, cheetah (gepard), hippos, Pumba, Timon, a ton of different birds like eagles and stuff, zebras, antilopes, etc etc etc. I guess the lion experiences have been the most remarkable, but I don’t have time to write about that right now.

Tomorrow morning we’re heading to the capital dodoma where we will meet Ulf, a missonary from Varmland, and celebrate Christmas in a masaai village.

Hopefully we’ll have internet access soon again, but if not, have a happy Christmas! :)

Saknar ett visst face

stasch — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:33:51 +0000

Off we go

stasch — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:34:26 +0000

I realize that I need to blog in English since many of those who read it won’t understand otherwise, and I’m sure everyone understands this level of English. :)

*******

So we’re getting ready to leave home soon. The plan has been to leave at noon, sharp, but as usual we will most likely fail. But we have 30 more minutes, still possible!

Alright, time to get ready. Hopefully I will update here with pictures and stuff now when everyone but me in the family has an iPhone or smart phone.

Hej då, Sverige.

Off we go!

En vanlig kväll i ett annorlunda hem

stasch — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:07:38 +0000

Min danske rumskamrat och vår färöiske granne klippte precis håret på den färöiske grannens ukrainske kollega i köket (sedan hans fru kommer hem från Nigeria i morgon) medan vår koreanska granne lagade mat i samma kök.

Vår amerikanske granne (vi alla bor i samma villa, fast i olika rum) är i Mocambique, bl.a. med min småländska flickvän. Dock utan vår lettiske vän som skulle följt med men inte kunde. Han är istället i Lappland med sin koreanska flickvän.

Aja, nu måste jag sova, för jag var uppe tidigt i morse och körde en tysk kvinna till tåget och en kanadensisk man till Uddevalla.

Och i morgon åker jag till Värmland.

Konstigt liv

stasch — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:51:41 +0000

For all of you who don’t know Swedish, if you wanna read – and I know you do – you can use google translate. It doesn’t translate perfectly, but it should make it quite understandable. Sometimes I might blog in English, keep your eyes open!

*******

Jag lever ett konstigt liv.

Jobbar 7,5 timmar om dagen. Utan lön. Det är konstigt.

Har inget eget rum. Det är konstigt.

Min flickvän är i Mozambique i 10 veckor. Det är konstigt.

Ibland undrar jag vad jag håller på med. Är det värt det? Livet kunde vara så mycket enklare. Och även om det är jobbigt ibland finns det egentligen bara ett svar:

Ananas.

Har precis packat mina väskor för tre-ish veckor i Tanzania. Det är konstigt. Packade också för fyra veckor i Nepal, det är ännu konstigare. Särskilt att packa för båda samtidigt. Men det är en få förunnad lyx.

Och ja, det är värt det.

*******

På lördag ska jag alltså med min familj till Afrika. Och jag tänkte blogga om det här.

Följ gärna med!

*******

Tornados

stasch — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:32:10 +0000

It’s stormy in the States right now. I guess you all have heard about Joplin, MO, where over 230 persons died the the last week in the tornados. I was in Missouri that day, a couple hours from the storms, on a train towards them. Luckily the train turned and changed direction after a while. But there was intense storms with rain, thunder, extreamly strong winds, and even the sky turned black in the middle of the day. All of a sudden it was dark outside. But I didn’t realize what the storms would cause until I got to Kansas City a few hours later when I got to see the disaster on TV.

I can’t even imagine how incredibly strong and damaging a tornado would be since the storm I was in obviously wasn’t nearly as bad.

Greyhound buses

stasch — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:22:03 +0000

Slightly ashamed to admit, I actually did the opposite from everything my experienced friends had told me about public transportations and took a 9,5 hour long Greyhound bus ride between Kansas City and Minneapolis the other day. And needless to say, I encountered some of the most interesting people on that bus.

Imagine a cow boy with an accent so weird not even the Americans would understand him. Then add some white trash, a few gangsta dudes, a few Mexicans, some black guys, an Amish couple, a hippie that slept the whole way and a really funny bus driver. That was my company that day.

And honestly, I had a blast with those people.

Mall of America.

stasch — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:16:49 +0000

Has anyone who reads this been to Mall of America? The largest shopping mall in America. It’s huge. For example, there is an amusement park in the mall. Yes, in the mall.

Hope to put up some pictures on fb soon.

I guess you can google it too.

Yeah. Just google it.

Settled in Minnesota

stasch — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:00:04 +0000

The last week has been crazy in many ways. After being in Tennessee for about two weeks, I headed to Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, where I met some friends, then Iowa and Minnesota where I am now.

And yes, almost everyone has Swedish or Norweigan ancestry and they all know how many percent they are which nationality. Met a black guy today and his last name was Jörgensen. Also met a girl who had cousins in Kristinehamn, which is 20 minutes form where i live, and she had been in my hometown Karlstad just a year ago. A teacher in Jonathans school also had relatives near Karlstad and a lot of people know some random Swedish words. Kinda fun.

I stay with my friend Jonathan and his family one hour west from Minneapolis for a week, until Tuesday I fly out.

Farmor

stasch — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:49:51 +0000

I haven’t spent so much time online the last week. Even less time blogging. Not only because I’ve travelled a lot the last week, but mainly because grandma passed away a few days ago. Hence, I’ve had a hard time and I have for obvious reasons not felt like bloging or writing about my own life and my travels when there’s so much more important stuff going on.

All of you who got to meet my fathers mum surely know that she was an amazing woman who spred wisdom, love and most of all a massive portion of pure joy wherever she’d go. I will remember her as a smiling grandma who I seldom got to see cry, else than out of happiness to see her sons, their wives or her grandchildren.

Thank you for everything, farmor. I will never forget you.